r 

2325' 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

......"P.LS-. - 



UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. * 



4 



I 



I 



IMPORTAIT DOCUIEITS 



IN RELATION TO THE 



PRESENT SITUATION 



OF 



VENEZUELA; 



AND THE ATTEMPT OF 



GENERAL JOSE TADEO MONAGAS 



TO ESTABLISH A 



DESPOTIC GOVERNMENT 



IN THAT country: 



WITH A FEW INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, 



NEW-YORK t 
1848. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 

IN KELATION TO THE PRESENT STATE OF 

VENEZUELA, 

AND THE 

TRUE QUESTION AT ISSUE IN THAT REPUBLIO* 



The contemporaneous history of those extensive regions which 
constitute the Spanish American RepubUcs is a subject of great 
and growing importance to the United States of America, and to 
the cause of liberty and good government throughout the civihzed 
work]. Occupying a large portion of the globe, with every variety 
of climate, abounding in rich productions, and embracing some of 
the most eligible positions for a vast commerce, these countries 
require only well organized and permanent institutions to develope 
their immense resources and powerfully to contribute to the hap- 
piness of the human race. The late war with Mexico, the- 
consequent information obtained of the natural productions of one 
of these States, and the great importance suddenly acquired by Cali- 
fornia from having passed into the possession of a well constituted 
and stable government, are proofs of the influence which the Span- 
ish Republics must exert whenever they shall enjoy the happiness 
of good government. 

There is nothing in the history of these States to warrant the 
apprehension, entertained by many of those who have not carefully 
examined the subject, that these Republics are incapable of self- 
government. Their revolutions and political commotions are the 
necessary result of the change which took place, not quite forty 
years since, from a state of mere colonies, dependent altogether on 
the mother country, to the rank of free and independent Powers. 
Wherever a similar transition has taken place it has been attended 
with similar results. The march of nations in the career of ra- 
tional freedom is necessarily slow and attended with serious difficul- 
ties. Examine the case of those countries where the science of 
government is most advanced, and where man enjoys the greatest 
security to life and property, and it will be found that this advan- 
tageous condition was preceded by a long series of years of politi- 
cal troubles, of revolutions and of bloodshed. Take, for instance, 



iv 



the case of England. How many generations passed away, what 
contentions between difFereiit parties, what revolutions and wars, 
what bloodshed, before the British constitution was permanently 
established and the people of England secured those rights which 
they have so faithfully transmitted to their descendants in both 
hemispheres ! Let it not be supposed that this was rather the 
consequence of those remote periods in the world's history, when 
civihzation had made but little progress, than the result of natural 
causes. In our own times we have seen France, one of the most 
civilized and polished nations of Europe, struggling to establish 
liberal institutions, and we have seen anarchy, despotism and final- 
ly monarchy succeed each other after years of successful revolu- 
tion. Even at this very time she is engaged in the great experi- 
ment of free government ; thus far revolution has been successful, 
a dynasty has disappeared, but nothing of a permanent character 
has yet supplied the place. May she not in her present struggle af- 
ford another lamentable proof that the science of government, and 
it might be added, of self-government is the most difficult of all 
sciences. Learned and philosophic Germany does not as yet pre- 
jsent a different or more satisfactory spectacle. 

The case of the United States of America stands isolated in the his- 
tory of great nations, but still it is easily distinguishable from other 
instances. The colonies which subsequently composed this great 
Union, were the inheritors of all that was valuable in British institu- 
tions. To pass over the effects of habit, the early colonists brought 
with them into their new settlements all the rights and privileges of 
British subjects. All that had cost England ages of contention and 
oceans of blood was imported in a single day, as it were, into her North 
American colonies. The advantages secured by Magna Charta, 
the Bill of Rights, Trial by Jury, the liberty of the press, were as 
much the privilege of the colonies as of the mother country. Nor 
were these rights a mere dead letter ; the colonists understood 
them from habit and education and used them, and their revolution 
was the result of an attempt to deprive them of some of those rights. 
How different was the case of the Spanish American States ! In 
all that appertains to government, after achieving their indepen- 
dence, they were obliged to commence by laying the corner-stone 
of the edifice, not as persons who understood all the component 
parts and the fair proportions of the building from actual experience, 
but as persons who were willing to imitate what they had only 
heard of. 



V 



But notwithstanding these serious difficulties, some of the South 
American States have made great advances in the career of liberty 
and good government, in the comparatively short period of their 
political existence. Among these states the Republic of Venezuela 
stood pre-eminent. In the year 1830, shortly after the dissolution 
of Colombia, of which Venezuela was a component part, she esta- 
blished a written Constitution under the auspices and guidance of 
that distinguished patriot General Jose Antonio Paez, one of the 
founders of South American Independence. That instrument, 
which is modelled on the Constitution of the United States, secures 
every advantage of rational freedom to the citizen. The legisla- 
tive power consists of a House of Representatives and of the 
Senate, both elected by the people. The Executive power is ad- 
ministered by a President, also elected by the people for a period 
of four years; and the Judiciary consists of the courts of law estab- 
lished under the Constitution. Under this Constitution, voluntarily 
adopted by the people through their delegates, Venezuela com- 
menced a career of prosperity and progress unparalleled in the 
other South American Republics. It had scarcely been adopted 
and received the warm support of General Paez, when in 1831 a 
military insurrection, headed by General Jose T. Monagas, broke 
out against the government. On the 15th of January a declara- 
tion was drawn up and signed in the city of Aragua by the con- 
spirators, and its tenor plainly indicates the character and political 
principles of the leaders. They refused by this instrument to 
acknowledge the existing government and assigned as a reason 
that there was no security for any person, as the clergy and the 
worthy officers of the army were oppressed and exiled ; that the 
Constitution attacked religion and subjected the clergy to the pay- 
ment of taxes, and deprived them and the military of their special 
privileges. In order that a correct idea may be formed of the 
justice of these complaints it is proper to remark that the Consti- 
tution of Venezuela did not establish any religion of State, and 
placed all citizens upon a just footing in relation to the payment 
•of taxes without regard to special privileges or immunities. This 
written declaration concluded by proclaiming the integrity of Co- 
lombia and appointing General Jose Tadeo Monagas civil and 
military chief General Paez was called upon to suppress this 
military insurrection and to establish the supremacy of law. He 
succeeded in this patriotic mission, and on the 24th of June granted 
a pardon to Gen. Monagas and his adherents. 



vi 



In 1835, Dr. Jos^ M. Vargas, a civilian, was elected President 
of the Republic, and shortly after his election another military in- 
surrection broke out, of which Gen. Monagas was again the mas- 
ter spirit. This time they openly demanded the establishment of 
a military government and that a Convention should be assembled ; 
they pretended to re-organize Colombia, to establish the Catholic 
religion as the religion of State and to revive the military privi- 
leges and immunities. Gen. Paez was again authorized to quell 
these disturbances, and the consequence was anew victory over the 
'enemies of the Constitution, and another pardon granted to Gen. 
Monagas. 

It will thus be seen that ever since the foundation of 
the Constitution of Venezuela, Gen. Monagas has been the oppo- 
nent of that code, of the institutions of his country, the equal rights 
of the people, and the advocate of military power and religious in- 
tolerance. Beit also remembered, that all these military insurrec- 
tions, instigated and headed by General Monagas, were all directed 
against the lawful government and against the chosen and elected 
candidates of the people ; that in all these rebellions, there was a 
direct attack made against the written Constitution, freely adopted 
in 1830 by the delegates of the people ; and that General Paez 
invariably was called upon and authorized by the government to 
maintain the Constitution ; that he always proved faithful to the 
trust reposed in him ; that he put down these rebellions, vanquished 
General Monagas and generously pardoned him under the general 
authority granted hy Congress. 

If General Monagas on these different occasions, by his overt 
acts and written declarations, was the invariable opponent of the 
Constitution and existing institutions of his country, from their very 
foundation, is it to be belived that he is now the supporter of that 
Constitution and of free and liberal institutions ] The sequel will 
prove that as soon as he secured an opportunity of destroying those 
institutions with probable impunity, he embraced it and carried 
his despotic principles into action with unheard of barbarity. 
■ In 1846 another election for President was to take place, and a 
great political error was committed by the friends of order and of 
law ; the error of selecting for Chief Magistrate a political oppo- 
nent, with the view of gaining him over to the cause of order. It 
was supposed that the opposition and enmity of General Monagas 
against the Constitution and laws of his country, arose chiefly from 
personal ambition, and that peace and order would be permanently 



vil 



secured by satisfying that ambition. The people of Venezuela 
and General Paez were mistaken ; the opposition of Monagas arose 
from a deep hatred to liberal institutions and from a love of military 
power. General Paez was requested to become a candidate him- 
self for the Presidency, but he pertinaciously refused, and when 
urged by large numbers who insisted nn his election declared 
that he would rather quit the country. He warmly supported the 
election of General Monagas, expecting permanently to secure 
peace for his country. The influence of Paez with the people, as one 
of the founders of Independence and the supporter of civil govern- 
ment, secured the election of General Monagas. Shortly after his 
election and installation he commenced a series of acts in open viola- 
tion of law and of the Constitution. He removed all the officers and 
commanders of the militia and substituted his own creatures ; refused 
to appoint as Governors of Provinces the persons designated by 
law, and placed in their stead individuals addicted to his principles. 
He collected and took possession of all the arms belonging to the 
State and placed them in the hands of his own partisans. He dis- 
armed the active or regular militia and called into service the mili- 
tia of reserve, without the authority of law required by the Constitu- 
tion. It is proper to explain here that the regular militia is com- 
posed of private citizens who furnish their own arms and receive 
no pay, and that the militia of reserve is composed of citizens who 
do not furnish their arms and are ^izz^^ when called into service un- 
der the previous authority of law. It is then plainly to be per- 
ceived that General Monagas could find more pliant tools in this 
militia of reserve. 

The result of the acts of General Monagas, as President, in open 
violation of law, was that an accusation or articles of impeachment 
were presented against him before the House of Representatives, 
in the manner provided by the Constitution. On the 24th of January 
1848 the House took into consideration the accusation preferred 
against the President in the exercise of a power vested in that body 
by the Constitution. On that very day, and before any action could 
be had by the Representatives of the People, the House was at- 
tacked by the militia of reserve, several members of Congress and 
other inoffensive citizens were murdered and Congress was vir- 
tually dissolved. A narration of the occurrence and the subse- 
quent acts of General Monagas will be found in the annexed docu- 
ments of General Paez. Suffice it to say, that General Monagas, 
assisted by his armed myrmidons, compelled the Representatives of 



the People to assemble again in Congress, under a threat that un^ 

less they met again all the families of the capital would be murdered 
and that he could not be answerable for the result. It is easy to 
imagine what must have been the state of the deliberations of such 
a Congress, and it is not to be wondered at that the first act of Con- 
gress was to pass a law pardoning all persons concerned in the 
bloody tragedy of the 24th of January. 

Shortly after the occurrence related above, General Monagas 
wrote a letter to General Paez asking his advice. The reply of 
General Paez will be found annexed. 

What is then the question at issue in Venezuela ] Does it pre- 
sent the case of two military leaders contending for the supremacy 1 
Or does it present the spectacle of a minority of the people con- 
tending against the majority ? Not at all. The case presented is 
briefly this. The President of the Republic is considered to have 
violated in a scandalous manner the written Constitution of the 
land ; the Representatives of the People, in the exercise of one of 
the powers vested by that instrument, take into consideration ar- 
ticles of impeachment preferred against him and they are imme- 
diately attacked and murdered by the armed force at the instiga- 
tion and with the connivance of the President; Congress is dis- 
solved and subsequently compelled to assemble again. Under simi- 
lar circumstances, what would citizens of the United States have 
done had the occurrence taken place in their own country 1 What 
would have been the duty of all true patriots % How would a 
Washington have acted if called upon by the people to support 
the Constitution and to prevent the establishment of military rule 1 
It might be urged that the Representatives of the People acted 
imprudently in exercising one of the powers vested in them by the 
Constitution ; but still they were engaged in a legal act, and the 
imprudent exercise of that right would not justify General Mona- 
gas in murdering them and impeding their action. 

But would it have been prudent to wink at the acts of Monagas 
and to have withheld his impeachment 1 History will furnish an 
answer. One act of intentional usurpation is generally followed 
by another. The nation that patiently submits to see its Consti- 
tution and laws trampled under foot, has invariably lost its freedom 
and degenerated into a nation of slaves. The political principles 
of General Monagas are sufficiently known ; and what had Vene- 
zuela to expect by allowing him to continue with impunity in his 
career ] Let the answer be furnished by a neighboring nation on 



i 

IX 

the same continent, which now groans under the iron rule of a mili- 
tary despot. The course of all usurpers is and has ever been the 
same ; it allows of no hope but what arises from immediate and 
decided opposition. "Obsta principiis" is the only safe rule. In 
some cases it is possible that a re-action, or the slow operation of 
time, may save a people from the dangers of an usurpation. But 
it is with the body politic as with the human body — there are some 
diseases of so violent and corrupting a nature that the patient dies 
before the re-action can take place. 

The history of the usurpation of Monagas has been written and is 
daily commented upon by enlightened foreigners residing in Vene- 
zuela. Their testimony may be considered impartial. We see 
in the daily journals of the United States accounts of the violation 
of private and diplomatic correspondence by the Monagas govern- 
ment; of the closing of the ports of the Republic to persons of all 
ages and sexes who sought to leave the country ; of the forced con- 
tributions arbitrarily exacted from peaceful citizens. By what 
authority of law are all these acts done ? Are they authorized by 
the Constitution of Venezuela ] 

The above remarks are intended to place in its true light the 
issue now pending in Venezuela, and to submit to the impartial 
judgment of the people of the United States the motives which 
have impelled one of the leaders of South American indepen- 
dence, the firm and constant supporter of the Constitution and 
laws of Venezuela, to take up arms against the usurper on the 
call of the people. 

The following documents published by him to the world will 
more fully explain those motives. 

New-York, Dec, 12th, 1848. 



LETTER 



FROM GENERAL JOSE A. PAEZ TO GENERAL JOSE 
T. MONAGAS, PRESIDENT, 

El Rastro, January 2>\st^ 1848. 

To his Excellency Gen. J. T. Monagas, 

President of the Republic : 

My esteemed General, Companion in Arms, and Friend — I ac- 
knowledge receipt of tbe letter of your Excellency of the 24tli inst., 
in which you are pleased to inform me of the horrible crime com- 
mitted by armed men against the National Congress ; and you in- 
vite me to save the country, and aid you with my advice. 

On the 26th I received the first news of the nefarious occurrence, 
and I have been subsequently informed of all the details. For the 
first time in my life I have mourned that I was born in a land where 
such abominable atrocities are committed in the name of liberty. 
I am deeply affected. I feel ray soul distracted, and my heart op- 
pressed with profound sorrow. What has happened in ray country 1 
I ask myself, and cannot find an answer ; — so grave, so extraordi- 
nary, so barbarous, and immoral, has been the deed committed on 
the 24th, in that Capital, the seat of Government — a deed perpe- 
trated by a part of the armed force organized by the government 
itself. Do not the authors of so great a wickedness tremble 
when they contemplate the days of bitterness which they have 
prepared for the country ] Is there a man who can harbor the 
idea that a people who have made so many sacrifices for free- 
dom, the heroic people of Venezuela, can overlook without con- 
demnation the butchery of several of their worthy Representatives, 
in the very hall for holding their sittings, and of a number of other 
esteemed citizens, without bringing the matter to a severe trial 1 
I think quite the contrary. 

My grief is increased by the conviction I entertain of the 
great moral responsibility resting on me, on account of my 

1 



2 



having been the person who made the greatest efforts to ele- 
vate your Excellency to the Presidency ! I have taken no part 
in the administration of your Excellency, nor in the former ad- 
ministrations to vi^hich I have not belonged. I have no complaint 
to make on this account; but I must assure your Excellency that, 
could I have had the least influence in your policy, I never would 
have advised you to cease to respect the sovereignty of the people, 
nor to evade the judgment to which public opinion summoned you. 
I would have exposed my life by your side to restrain the body of 
militia that attacked Congress, rather than have influenced them to 
show themselves indifferent to the atrocious and unheard of crime. 
The people of Caracas, that virtuous people, notwithstanding the ex- 
citement sought to be created, have given a signal example of morali- 
ty. The people of Caracas understood well what risks they ran in 
the career of freedom, by helping those who conceived the dark pro- 
ject of assassinating Congress. 

What advice can I give you in the situation in which you have 
placed yourself] No one can believe this any longer possible. Your 
Excellency appears before the country as the greatest, the most 
ungrateful, and the most revengeful, of all my enemies. I have 
however been always seen engaged in endeavoring to dissipate this 
injurious opinion, and laboring without reserve to persuade all 
that there was the best understanding between us, convinced as I 
was of the advantages resulting from this to the Republic. 

Now your Excellency no longer inspires confidence to that por- 
tion of our society which is the soundest, most conscientious and 
the strongest, because of its intelligence and other good qualities, 
for its sense of honor, and honor is never cowardly ! If your Ex- 
cellency is enraged against this portion of society, you will never, 
never subdue it. You will never succeed in destroying thousands 
of men who are united, and who with looks of indignation pledge 
themselves to die for liberty — for that liberty so well guaranteed 
by the Constitution of 1830. 

I have been called by those nearest to your Excellency, and even 
by your Excellency (as I am informed,) a friend of the opposition 
party. I would be glad if the editors of public papers would pub- 
lish my answers to the letters they have addressed to me, urging 
me to speak. I authorize them to do so, and I give a like permis- 
sion to those of my fellow-citizens to whom I have written within 
the last eight months. Then your Excellency would be constrained 
\o acknowledge the moral co-operation which I have given to your 



ministration, and how faithful I have been to the friendship which 
We promised to each other — a friendship which ought to have pro- 
duced great advantages to the country ; but, unfortunately, the result 
has been otherwise. What blindness ! I have been disappointed, I 
confess, in ray endeavors ; but I have nothing to repent of in my 
conduct. 

A native of this land, and having a name bestowed on me by 
my country, I must in all her trials exert all the influence of that 
name in her behalf. I cannot be indifferent to the high crime which 
has been perpetrated against the nation, by the assassination of 
some of her Representatives, and to the degradation and humilia- 
tion sought to be imposed on the others. What is pretended ] 
That Venezuela should keep silence as to the past, tolerate the pre- 
sent, and assist in bringing about that future which the existence of 
anarchy is preparing for her 1 By throwing a veil over the ex- 
ecrable crime of the 24th, will there be any hopes that another in- 
dependent Congress will ever assemble in Venezuela] And 
without this periodical meeting of the representatives of the people 
will the representative system be preserved ? I think we cannot 
expect it. I do not expect it. 

They wish to persuade us that Congress is engaged in the 
discharge of its important duties. Is there any freedom left in 
that Congress which has just passed through the horrors of the 
24th, — which is surrounded by bayonets, and the members of 
which are threatened with the assassination of the families of 
the capital if they do not assemble 1 I cannot speak of these 
acts without expressing all the indignation they have caused 
me, — all the detestation with which I regard them. History does 
not present an example of iniquities perpetrated with such cool- 
ness. Venezuela is compelled to deplore the deaths of some of 
her most worthy Representatives, and is now enduring the disgrace 
of seeing those members who escaped on the 24th assembled in 
Congress under the safeguard of those very persons who had con- 
spired against the lives of all ! This is a provoking insult to the 
intelligence of Venezuelans, and to the bravery which they have 
displayed on a thousand trying occasions. The Republic will not 
sanction tliese iniquities. 

Although I have no reason to expect that ray advice will be 
heeded by your Excellency, I think proper to lay before you the 
only measures that can allay the excitement of the people, and pre- 
vent disaster. 



4 



I propose that your Excellency should peaceably submit to the 
trial to which public opinion has summoned you, for many of your 
acts which are regarded as being clearly against the Constitution. 
I propose that you withdraw all the armed force from the Capi- 
tal, and that you allow both Houses to change their siltings to ano- 
ther place, as one House had already resolved, in order that they 
may deliberate dispassionately and freely upon the state of the Re- 
public. 

This is the only measure which I judge capable of inspiring 
some confidence, and the only one which can place your Excel- 
lency on good ground. If your Excellency reject this advice, who 
can prevent the war which has already commenced by the assassi- 
nation of the Representatives of the people 1 Your Excellency, 
who received the Republic in peace, will answer before God, for 
the consequences of the war. As to myself I have only to say, 
that I have contracted solemn engagements with the Republic, and 
have sacred duties to discharge towards it, and that I am deter- 
mined to discharge them with the greatest decision. Nor could 
it be otherwise, when the Representatives of the people have just 
given us a practical lesson of singular heroism. Unprotected, oc- 
cupying their seats, disregarding the frequent threats against their 
lives, they awaited death with tranquillity, to save the institutions 
of their country. Can I, who am honored with the office of Gen- 
eral-in-chief, surrounded by brave men who are crowding around 
me from different points to offer their lives and their fortunes in 
defence of their country, disregard all these scenes, and contribute 
by my indifference to confirm the rule of Terror ? No ! A thou- 
sand TIMES, NO ! It is my duty to perish, rather than to witness 
with seeming serenity the ignominious death of the Republic. 

1 subscribe myself the friend and companion in arms of your Ex- 
cellency, 

JOS^: ANTONIO PAEZ. 



ADDRESS OF GENERAL PAEZ TO HIS FELLOW 
CITIZENS. 

Jose Antonio Paez, General-in-Chief of the armies of the Re- 
public, and of the army of operation, to re-establish the Constitu- 
tion of 1830. 

Venezuelans : Hear with horror the statement which I am about to 



5 



make to you, in relation to an occurrence whicli stains the glorious 
name and threatens the complete destruction of the Republic. Hear, 
that you may know those who have charge of the public power, 
those who accepted the honorable trust of protecting your rights. 
Hear, and with the indignation of Republicans ; raise your voices 
against tyranny and prepare to combat it with all your strength. 

The present administration has sought a certain end without 
stopping at the means. Shamefully trampling under foot the 
Constitution and the Laws, it has invaded the judicial and the 
municipal power ; it determined to subject everything to its haugh- 
ty will. The judges were no longer to be the ministers of the 
law ; it was necessary that they should be the instruments of a 
party blinded with rage and panting for revenge. The citizens 
presented by the provincial Deputations were not considered wor- 
thy to be governors of Provinces ; the government wanted agents 
to further its plans, and it found fitting tools, and this is the 
reason of the removals of the governors of Caracas and Carabobo. 
The Government disarmed the active militia, which is by law 
entrusted with the defence of their respective districts ; it armed, 
with all possible haste, the militia of reserve, removed their com- 
manders and officers who had very lately bravely defended their 
country, and substituted in their places persons guilty of treason, 
who had been defeated and pardoned; and it called into service a 
considerable number of this militia, without the previous authority 
of the Council of Government. The administration went still fur- 
ther : endeavoring to screen itself from the great responsibility to 
which it had subjected itself by its violent excesses, treading un- 
der foot the laws and all forms, it provided itself with a packed 
jury, resolved to impose silence by this means on the public 
press, in order to conceal from the people their true social 
state. 

The Nation, through the public press, protested with energy 
against the usurpations of the administration endeavoring to ob- 
tain a redress of grievances by a constitutional means. This con- 
duct is honorable to the patriotism and civilization of our people ; 
they suffered, they saw the chains forged to bind them, but there 
was still a hope to console them ; they resolved to suffer and to 
wait. 

Congress was to meet, and Congress was the hope of the good. 
That body did meet, and its first steps disclose that they had well 
comprehended the true situation of the country, and that they had 



resolved to remedy it. On the 23d of January both Houses com- 
menced their sessions, and on the same day the House of Repre- 
sentatives resolved to transfer their sittings to Puerto Cabello, by 
a majority of 32 against 12 votes. On the 24th the same House was 
engaged in considering the accusation against the President ; and 
the impeachment would have been resolved upon in that sitting, but 
it was not possible. The administration was determined to save it- 
self, even at the cost of a crime which would tarnish the annals of 
the Republic, and would sink it in great misfortunes. That same 
militia of reserve, so much caressed by the government, and which 
it had beforehand summoned to the capital, became the perpetra- 
tors of the sanguinary project. At an appointed hour they left 
their barracks, — -they filed off in front of the Government House, — 
received from the President of the Republic a salutation and cruel 
orders, which they blindly obeyed. It was this militia of reserve 
who trampled down the small guard which Congress, in the use of its 
powers, had confided to the command of the brave Colonel Smith. 
It was this militia who fired the first shots against the aforesaid 
commander of the guard, who unarmed went out to meet the in- 
vading force to inquire what orders they had ;— it was this militia 
of reserve that dispersed the Houses of Congress, that butchered 
brave Representatives and excellent private citizens : it was finally 
this militia of reserve, quartered by the government and paid by the 
nation, that assassinated the nation itself in the persons of her Re- 
presentatives ! 

Fellow-citizens ! A crime unheard of in the history of nations 
has been perpetrated ; a crime that must appal society, and arm 
good citizens to avenge it. The blood of the Representatives of 
the people has been shed within the very sanctuary of the laws ; 
the murderous sword severed the heads from the bodies of illustri- 
ous victims, and mockery was added to ferocity. The assassins 
glutted in their work, and General Jose Tadeo Monagas presented 
himself in the theatre of the slaughter, after it had been consum- 
mated. The members of Congress exposed their lives to save the 
institutions of the Republic ; it behooves the Republic to regain 
that honor, of which her enemies have robbed her, and to punish 
them in an exemplary manner. 

Government attributes to the people of Caracas, and not to the 
militia, the crime of the 24th of January, and pretends that it could 
not prevent it. Having possession of the press, and in the midst of 
the consternation of the inhabitants of the Capital, the Government 



7 



ventures to believe that the deed will be handed down to history 
with the coloring given to it. When the Capital shall have shaken 
off the yoke that oppresses it, the whole world will be horror- 
stricken at the recital of details, which I cannot commit to this 
document. Who assembled in the capital for the 24th of January 
upwards of 2,000 men of the militia of reserve 1 By whose order 
appeared formed in the principal square upwards of 500 of those 
militia-men on that very dayl Who ordered to be stationed at the 
place of Quebrada Honda, one of the avenues to the city, 
three hundred of those militia-men, who flew to the centre of 
the city at the noise of the first firing 1 Who ordered all the 
square to be surrounded which contains the building destined 
for the sittings of Congress ? By whose permission were the can- 
non violently dragged through the public streets 1 General 
Monagas ordered everything, and found blind instruments. Gene- 
ral Monagas saw pass in front of the Government House the 
companies of militia that were quartered in the park, with their 
officers at their head and in hostile array. It is true that an effort 
was made to implicate the populace, but the latter are excusable 
to a certain extent, when they are seen to follow the lead and the 
impulse of the first Magistrate. He who corrupts the populace 
is answerable for the aberrations of the populace. 

One crime leads to another. After the tragedy of the 24th, 
Government is striving to persuade the country that Congress is 
constitutionally assembled, and that it is engaged in laboring for 
the public good. Congress is treated with more severity than a 
prisoner of war. Under the threats of putting to the sword all the 
families of the capital in case it did not meet again, those ven- 
erable patriots yielded, persuaded of the inutility of resistance. 
Government thinks that it can legalize by means of this subsequent 
offence the atrocities of the 24th, but its power does not reach 
thus far ; it may domineer over individuals while it keeps them 
encompassed with bayonets ; but whatever our delegates may 
sign under the influence of those bayonets, can never, never be 
binding on the citizens of Venezuela. Let the traitorous adminis- 
tration consider itself, if it please, authorized to form an army of 
10,000 men, and to increase the debt of this exhausted country by 
an additional million of dollars. The days of terror will soon 
pass over, those of the law will return, and the behest of the law 
enacted and signed by the free will of their Representatives, will be 
alone binding upon Venezuelans. The Republic has no Legislative 



8 



power at present; its members, watched from the bar of the 
Houses by Gen. Monagas, are compelled to appease the fury of 
that tyrant, by obedience to his orders. 

Fellow Citizens ! the social compact is broken, and the peo- 
ple have resumed their rights. In the exercise of those rights, 
some of the Cantons have invested me with sufficient authority to 
organize an army, to avenge the outrages committed against the 
Republic, to re-establish the empire of the Constitution, and to 
procure the punishment of the perfidious Magistrate. I have ac- 
cepted this noble and delicate mission, and I have the joy to an- 
nounce to you that I am in arms ! I have taken up my lance, not 
to lay it aside until I shall have seen the enemies of my country 
humbled, and the Constitution of 1830 triumphant. I reckon on 
all true patriots, — on all those who respect the nationality of 
Venezuela, and who remember her glorious deeds, — on those who 
sincerely love liberty and detest tyranny. Venezuela has made 
bloody sacrifices for that precious Liberty, and should not allow it to 
be torn from her by a few individuals who, because they once be- 
longed to the Liberating Army, dream now of the subjugation of their 
country. Implacable enemies of the Constitution, they invoke it only 
to destroy it, and to murder those who signed it and. have sustained 
it. In 1835 and 1836 Venezuela was saved ; why shall she not 
be saved now, when the horrible project has commenced to be de- 
veloped in the very Halls of Congress ? I have abundant means 
for the accomplishment of this undertaking, so glorious for our 
country. Let us give to the world a further proof that Venezuela 
is incapable of tolerating the deed of the 24th of January, let us 
prove that General Monagas and those who accompany him are 
alone responsible for the crime perpetrated on that day ! 

Fellow citizens ! Relying on that protection which Divine Pro- 
vidence has always extended to us, I have determined to save my 
country ; she being free, though I may perish in the combat, I 
shall descend in peace to my grave. 

Headquarters at Calabozo, February 4th, 1848, the 19th year of 
the Law, and the 38th of Independence. 

JOSE A. PAEZ. 



9 



MANIFESTO OF THE GENERAL IN CHIEF, JOS^ 
ANTONIO PAEZ. 

My country groans under the sword of the assassin of her na- 
tional Representatives. Venezuelan blood has run upon fields dt 
battle ; some of the leaders in the war of independence are wan- 
dering about in exile, and hundreds of families are seeking an asy- 
lum in foreign lands. Upon my leeble shoulders weighs the dif- 
ficult charge of saving the people among whom I was born ; and I 
must render to them an account of my conduct, and submit it, like- 
wise, to the judgment of the truly liberal and just throughout the 
world. These are the reasons for publishing the present marii* 
festo, in which I am compelled to speak of myself, not for the pur- 
pose of self-praise, but to relate facts of my public life— facts re- 
corded in ray country's history. 

In the year 1810 I enrolled myself under the banners of the 
army which was to achieve the emancipation of my country from 
its ancient rulers. Although then quite a youth, I at once perceived 
that the liberating army ought, in all its actions, to show itsdlf 
worthy of its glorious title. Our mission was to free the country, 
and to use every exertion to establish and consolidate a civil govefii- 
ment. This principle has guided me when obeying and when com- 
manding, and it will be hereinafter seen that I have been alvvays 
faithful to it. 

Colombia was dissolved in 1830, by the will of the several Peoples 
who composed it. An act of the government of that time hastened 
the execution of a project which had manifested itself from the 
time of the publication of the Constitution of 1821. The con- 
vention of Ocana having been dissolved, and the hopes of the Re- 
public having been thus disappointed, the Liberator expressed a 
desire that the nation should freely declare theif wishes ; and 
Venezuela, the first, declared for the " separation of Colombia." 
The people invested me with the honorable title of *' Provisiona,l 
Chief of the State," and I endeavored to conduct myself in a man- 
ner worthy of so great a trust. I summoned a constituent Con- 
gress, which met at Valencia ; its respectable and enlightened 
members, carefully selected by the provinces, adopted the Consti- 
tution of the republic, and on me devolved the honor of ordering 
it to be published and obeyed. 

The work of that convention has obtained the appro"bation. of 

9 



10 



the liberal world ; it has also met with a warm opposition. It was 
natural to expect this opposition to a law which puts an end to 
unjust pretensions and to interests which are opposed to those of 
the majority of the nation. For the first time, I am compelled to 
publish what Venezuela well knows, viz : that it was owing to the 
decided support of my authority, and to the discreet exercise of 
the influence with which my fellow-citizens favored me, that the 
constituent Congress was not interrupted in the performance of its 
solemn duties. A portion of the army, not sufficiently well in- 
formed of the nature of their rights and duties, could not patiently 
brook the discussion respecting the abolition of military privileges, 
and I was obliged to appeal to the patriotism of these brave men, 
and to the regard with which they had constantly distinguished 
me, to prevent a scandal and allow the representatives of the peo- 
ple freely to pursue the course they had traced out. I succeeded 
in dispelling the storm ; but the spirit of rebellion continued to 
produce bad effects. 

In 1831 I was called to the Presidency, and shortly after having 
taken possession of it I was compelled to take the field to put 
down a military rebellion. Without bloodshed I succeeded in re- 
establishing order, and the head of the conspiracy, General Jose 
Tadeo Monagas, returned to his home, protected by a pardon 
which I granted him in the Valle de la Pascua. There were sub- 
sequent attempts at military conspiracies during the first constitu- 
tional period, but without serious consequences to the Republic. 

The nation selected for their first magistrate, in 1835, the emi- 
nent citizen Doctor Jose Vargas. As a civilian, whose past life 
had been most honorable, he afforded an ample guaranty to the 
nation that the government would be administered honestly and 
impartially ; but another military conspiracy came again to de- 
stroy these flattering hopes. The government appointed me 
General-in-Chief of the Constitutional Army, at the head of which 
I was obliged to go into the interior of the eastern part of Vene- 
zuela ; and on the savannas of the Pirital I pardoned, for a second 
time, Gen. Jose Tadeo Monagas, the leader of the rebellion, and 
I secured him the possession of his military rank and of his fortune. 
Shortly after this, Puerto Cabello surrendered — the last entrench- 
ment of the disturbers of the public peace ; and with this event 
ended the misfortunes of that year. 

My position, during the periods I have mentioned, was a difficult 
one, and most delicate. On the one hand I was obliged to re- 



11 



strain the military, who, forgetful of their duty, turned against their 
country the arms which she had confided to them for her defence ; 
and on the other hand, I endeavored to temper the ardent zeal of 
the friends of the Constitution. Placed in the midst of these con- 
tending passions, I aspired only to perform the office of conciliator. 
If I condemned the exactions of some military men, I still en- 
deavored, on all occasions, to lighten their sufferings and to attract 
to them the public regard, calling to mind their former services in 
the cause of independence. I refer, as proof, to my messnges to 
Congress, in which I recommended that those who had been exiled 
should be restored to their country — should be incorporated in the 
army and continued in their offices. As President, I conferred on 
them posts of honor and of trust ; and as chief of the army, I call- 
ed them around me in the trials of the country. Some of them 
have shown themselves grateful for this my conduct : but others, 
who have never been reconciled to our institutions, have always 
excited and fomented seditions, though threatening destruction to 
the land of their birth. 

By the votes of my fellow citizens I again assumed the adminis- 
tration of the State in 1839. During this third period, the pas- 
sions, somewhat abashed, subsided, and my administration was a 
peaceful one. It was assiduously and laboriously devoted to the 
intellectual and material progress of the country. A sound pub- 
lic opinion has judged of the result. I may be allowed only to 
add, that I omitted nothing to improve the situation of the country. 
Great reforms were undertaken and carried into effect. Without 
requiring an army, I preserved internal peace, and carefully culti- 
vated and enlarged our foreign relations — being persuaded that 
this friendly intercourse would procure us a suitable rank in the 
great family of nations. On this point I was persevering. A 
new people, and of scant population, necessarily requires the sup- 
port of more advanced nations ; and it was with satisfaction that I 
saw Venezuela recommending herself for her habits of modera- 
tion and fraternity in the estimation of those foreigners who ac- 
quired a residence within her territory. How advantageous this 
conduct was to the Republic is proved by the progress of its com- 
merce and agriculture up to 1846 — a progress which our faithful 
statistical data do not permit us to doubt. 

In order to complete our relations with friendly powers, I de- » 
voted in part my most earnest attention to the settlement of our 
foreign debt, and I had the satisfaction to accomplish it. Thia 



12 



was an act of justice, deferred by reason of the circumstances 
which surrounded Colombia, and subsequently, Venezuela. Those 
individuals who had opportunely aided us in gaining our inde- 
pendence had a perfect right to demand that their claims should 
be attended to and considered. The acknowledgment of our 
foreign debt, its liquidation, and the punctual payment of the in- 
terest, gained credit and character for Venezuela, and obtained 
for her many honorable marks of distinction. Thanks to the peace 
with which Providence favored the country during the second pe- 
riod of my administration, our credit was maintained and advanced 
at home, and established and strengthened abroad ; a portion — no 
inconsiderable one — of our foreign and domestic debt was paid ; and 
on my retiring from office, on the 20th of January 1843, a surplus 
was left in the national treasury of very near three millions of dollars. 

If in the administration of the government I constantly exerted 
myself faithfully to fulfil my duties, I endeavored in private life to 
conduct myself as a sincere republican. The public saw me always 
devoted with ardor, and even with enthusiasm, to the cultivation of 
nay lands and in promoting the raising of cattle, an occupation for 
which I have felt a special preference. But as we met with the 
gerious inconvenience of a scarcity of hands, I encouraged, first in 
the cabinet, and afterwards by means of private associations, the 
immigiation of foreigners. Happy efforts were made in this re- 
spect, and that great element of prosperity would have flowed 
abundantly into our country, had public order remained unaltered. 
I have promoted by all possible means within my reach the pro- 
gress of the country, being fully convinced that the love of industry, 
and the results issuing therefrom, would consolidate our institutions. 

But evil passions interposed to check the progressive march of 
Venezuela. A systematic opposition undertook the unpatriotic task 
of throwing discredit on the laws and the magistrates — of impeach- 
ing the character of those men who had faithfully served the cause 
of independence and of liberty. Doctrines the most subversive of 
social order, were instilled into the masses : a divorce was sought 
to be established between rich and poor — between creditors and 
debtors — between masters and servants. Good citizens were over 
confident ; they were not fully aware of the risk which the institu- 
tions ran, and bad citizens gained ground. A portion of the peo- 
ple allowed themselves to be seduced by exaggerated notions of 
liberty, and soQn very marked symptoms of anarchy showed 
lh§mselves. 



Such was our social state in 1846, when an election of President 
was to take place for the next succeeding period. Some individuals 
brought my name forward for that elevated post ; but I hastened 
to proclaim, through the public press, my resolution of not accept- 
ing that office a third time. Having been invited by several citi- 
zens of Barcelona to give my support to Monagas as a candidate, 
I signified by letter the satisfaction with which I would see that 
chief at the head of the administration. This was not a mere com- 
plimentary act ; the love of my country, which was seriously threat- 
ened, led me to take this step. If I erred, I am guilty only for 
this error; but not at all of having wished to injure the Republic. 
I thought that General Monagas would come to the first post in 
the nation without prejudices, and that, in consequence of his 
being an old leader, the father of a family, and an extensive pro- 
prietor, he would give his decided support to the cause of order. 
The Republic feared that the contrary might be the case ; patriotic 
citizens were always distrustfal of the intentions of General Mona- 
gas, and up to the very eve of the election, a large majority declared 
itself strongly opposed to his election. I have never had more 
reason to be grateful to my fellow-citizens than when, in deference 
to my suggestions, they decided in favor of a candidate, who in 
their opinion afforded no security for the principles proclaimed in 
1830. My fellow-citizens were right and I was prepossessed. I 
judged General Monagas not as he was, but such as he ought to 
be. I thought him reconciled to his country's institutions, and to 
the men who have supported them. Never did he receive offence 
from these men. In his repeated rebellions he was always an 
object of public commiseration. It fell to my lot to command the 
army sent against him, and I disarmed him without employing 
other arms than those of reason, of justice, and arguments founded 
on public convenience. Since 1835 General Monagas had been 
reposing at his home in peace, under the protection of the Consti- 
tution, promoting his interests, in the possession of his military 
rank, and receiving the pay appointed by law. The same national 
party who opposed General Monagas in 1831 and in 1835, elevated 
him to the Pre.<idency in 1847. Might it not have been expected 
that he would prove faithful to the principles that had controlled 
his election ; that he would show himself grateful for the gene- 
rosity of those who at one time were his political opponents 1 The 
country had a right to expect such a result ; but the return ha§ 
been » barbarous assassination of the people's Representative^ ! 



14 



1 was at Caracas wlien General Monagas swore before Congress 
to support the Constitution, and I was a witness of the first acts of 
his administration ; they disarmed party spirit, and promised future 
tranquillity. Such was the position of affairs when my duties as 
Chief of the army, compelled me in the latter part of March, to 
quit the capital. I was at a very great distance, when I received 
the news of the first aberrations of General Monagas. I sincerely 
deplored them ; yet I harbored the hope that the responsibility he 
incurred and the immense danger to which he exposed the republic, 
would cause him to retrace his steps. I was also mistaken this 
time. In the midst of the excitement manifested in consequence 
of notorious abuse of power, I labored strenuously, advising calm- 
ness and forbearance ; and I was always found ready to make every 
sacrifice to save the country. Thus, when in the latter part of De- 
cember of last year, General Monagas wrote to me signifying his 
desire to have an interview with me in the place of Las Cocuisas, 
I answered him satisfactorily, and I immediately commenced my 
journey to meet him. General Monagas did not fulfil his word, 
given to me of his own free will, and under the pretence of illness, 
he avoided a meeting sought by himself ; and I returned to my home 
with very sad presentiments. 

I hastened forthwith to quit the country, and to go into New 
Granada, having previously obtained permission for that purpose 
from the government. On the 3d of January I left Maracay, and 
on the night of the 26th I received at Calabozo, the astounding 
news of the horrid crime perpetrated in Caracas, against the Rep- 
resentatives of the people on the 24th of the same month. Deeply 
moved at this first intelligence, the subsequent news, and the public 
declarations of some towns, made me take the resolution expressed 
in my letter of the 31st of January to General Monagas, and in my 
address of the 4th of February. Both these documents will be 
found in an appendix to this manifesto. When I published them 
I was not in possession of details of which I have been subse- 
quently well informed. I did not know for instance, that the Senate 
of the Republic, having been escorted to the government house by 
200 armed men, entreated General Monagas to show himself in the 
place where Congress was assembled, and to order the firing against 
the representatives to cease, and that the General answered coldly, 
*' I am told that I ought not to go" — and continued for two hours 
amusing himself hearing the noise of a lively firing. I did not 
know that the respectable Colonel Smith, bathed in his own blood, 



15 



carried on men's shoulders to the Government House, and reclining 
upon a sofa, did not receive the slightest mark of attention, not 
even a solitary expression of kindness, from General Monagas. I 
did not know that the Representatives of the people, made prisoners 
of by the militia, were instantly presented to General Monagas, 
who cast looks of contempt on some of them, and tormented others 
with cruel sarcasm, and abandoned all to the ferocity of his agents. 
I did not know that General Santiago Marino, shut up in the Con- 
vent of San Jacinto with 500 men, was urged by a chief and seve- 
ral officers to hasten to the spot where Congress was sitting in order 
to prevent the butchery of the Representatives ; and that this Gene- 
ral contemptuously disregarded the request, saying, (these were his 
own words) " that what was passing was no great matter." I 
did not know that before the butchery commenced, all the outlets 
of the city were obstructed by the public force. Finally, I did not 
know other details, which I shall mention in the course of this in- 
strument, should I deem it absolutely necessary. 

It was my duty not to hesitate from the moment I became con- 
vinced that General Monagas had changed the honorable title of 
President of the Republic for the abominable office of the assassin 
of the people's Representatives. The crime filled me with horror ; 
I saw my country annihilated, her name tarnished, her glories be- 
lied, and the sword of a blood-thirsty tyrant hanging over the heads 
of good citizens. Followed by a few men I moved to El Rastre 
on the 27th of January in the morning. I there received the let- 
ter of General Monagas, the answer to which I have already cited ; 
and therO; as the fruit of my meditations, and the result of my pro- 
found convictions, and accepling the new honor conferred on me 
by my fellow-citizens, I determined to direct to them my address 
of the 4th of February. I was aware then of the difficulty of the 
position which I assumed. Without an army, without arms of 
any kind, because General Monagas had cautiously taken posses- 
sion of them all ; without money, in fine, without the elements ne- 
cessary to resist a tyrant, who, abusing the respectable names of 
government, Constitution, and laws, had been preparing himself 
for a whole year to inflict a mortal blow upon society, I deter- 
mined, notwithstanding, to run all imaginable risks, to save my 
name at least from infamy. Could I have acted otherwise 1 Could 
I continue in the country, a silent spectator of what had passed 
and of what was feared for the future, or continue my journey to 
New Granada to remain indifferent to the afflicting situation of 



16 



Venezuela 1 I coiild have saved myself from the general confla- 
gration ; but vi^hat would I save ? The days which remain to me 
of life, and my individual fortune ! I would be unworthy even of 
the name of a patriot, if, having obtained from Venezuela the title 
of Illustrious, I abandoned her in her most terrible tribulation, in 
order to preserve in [exchange, a mere physical existence. A 
soldier of honor — of honor accorded to him for more than a hun- 
dred battles, all glorious for the State — cannot harbor in his breast 
the calculations of cold selfishness. My honor and political con- 
science advised me to the act of the 4th of February, and I think, 
I have given another proof of fidelity to my high duties. 

For fifteen days I remained at El Rastro, accompanied only by 
fifty men. The constant solicitations which I received from the pa- 
triots of Apure urging me to come and head the movement which 
they wished to make in favor of the cause of order, and the con- 
victions I entertained that our forces ought to take possession of 
that place, determined me to march upon it on the 15th of Febru- 
ary, followed by 200 men, who, by that time, had joined me. On 
the 20th of the same month I entered San Fernando, where I was 
received with public and solemn proofs of the patriotism which has 
always distinguished its inhabitants. They had strongly declared 
against the crime of the 24th of January and for the punishment 
of its execrable author. The inhabitants of Apure flocked from 
all quarters to offer their co-operation in defence of the national 
cause, and I earnestly devoted myself to organize the basis of an 
army. I was compelled to interrupt this labor in consequence of 
the information I was constantly receiving of the violent means 
used by General Munoz to collect men to defend the assassinations 
of the 24th of January. The same language was used everywhere 
the Constitution was on their lips, but their acts proved the exis- 
tence of a despotic power. Gen Munoz compelled all to follow 
him, threatening them with death, and he seized their property in 
a barbarous manner. Let one act reveal the morality which pre- 
vailed in the councils of Gen. Munoz. Manuel Segovia left Mu- 
noz's encampment, in the early part of last February, with orders 
to bring, alive or dead, before that chief, N. Hernandez, son-in- 
law of said Segovia, who faithfully executed the order. Segovia, 
escorted by six assassins, surprised Hernandez at his house and 
assassinated him. The father murders the son ! A worthy offer- 
ing from the defenders of the 24th of January[to the Constitution of 
1830! Gen Munoz rewarded Segovia by making him captain ; 



17 



but Divine Providenae, always just, decreed that Segovia should 
be among the first to perish at the points of the lances of the 
friends of order, on the lOth of March. 

The nation would have speedily recovered its freedom, tyranny 
would have perished the moment it showed itself, and the tyrant 
would have been now sufferiDg the consequences of his atrocious 
wickedness, if an act that finds no parallel in the history of simi- 
lar events had not intervened to complicate the evils of my coun- 
try. I refer to the reassembling of the Houses on the 26th of Jan- 
uary. I have not ceased testifying my respect and admiration for 
those distinguished Senators and Representatives who, on the 24th 
of January, resolved to die in their seats to cement with their blood 
the institutions of the republic. I see them, subsequently, meet in 
Congress on the 26th, in blind obedience to the despot, and ap- 
prove, without discussion, acts which vilify the country, and which 
suddenly, but effectually, change the Venezuelan character from 
intelligent, brave and noble, into stupid, cowardly and mean. My 
pen here runs with difficulty. I am transported by the heroic con- 
duct of the Representatives of Venezuela on the 24th of January ; 
but when attempting to describe the proceedings beginning on the 
26th, I feel my hand tremble — my heart palpitates, and my head 
is disturbed. I read the protests of the Arellanos, the Rafael 
Lozadas, the Carreras and the Soteldos, and I applaud the manly 
effort made by these worthy Representatives to aid the cause of 
the restoration ; but I lament that so noble and resolute an act 
has not been imitated by other chosen ones of the people. I can 
draw but a very faint sketch of this scene. The act is before my 
country; public opinion there will judge of it. 

On the day of the trial and sentence of the celebrated cause to 
be prosecuted against the Great Assassin, it will be a difficult matter 
to decide that the crime of the 24th is greater than that of the 26th 
of January. On the former day General Monagas acted like an 
enraged tyrant, commanding the murder of the Congress that was 
about to try him. On the latter, General Monagas made use of 
that very Congress to legalize his sanguinary conduct and to 
strengthen his power. On the 24th, General Monagas, like a self- 
satisfied conqueror upon a glorious battle-field, graciously granted 
the boon of life to the Representatives who were presented before 
him as prisoners of war; and on the 26th, Congress grants a par- 
don to General Monagas and to his accomplices in the atrocities 
of the 24th, With the annihilation of Congress, General Monagas 

3 



19 



frowned his work of revenge against a country that had never 
offended him. Never was there seen a people more humbled than 
Venezuela since the 24th of January. She must soon give to the 
world a great, a powerful proof, in order to efface the ignominious 
stamp which General Monagas endeavored to put upon her proud 
front — upon the front of a people up to that time justly proud. 
History records the existence of tyrants who attained power 
through a series of violence — sacrificing those who opposed them ; 
but it was reserved for General Monagas to stain his hands in the 
innocent blood of some representatives, and to transform after- 
wards the survivors of the catastrophe into his councillors and zeal- 
ous panegyrists. Only by this extraordinary, scandalous means 
has General Monagas been enabled to prolong his immoral power, 
and to delay the nation's triumph. This criminal deception is the 
cause of the prejudice of the ignorant portion of the people, which 
assents to what is told to them in the name of Congress and of 
Government, not knowing that both ceased to exist on the 24th of 
January. The acts of General Monagas, in the name of the Consti- 
tution, after that ill-fated day, are a mockery. The Constitution of 
1830 fell prostrate under the daggers of the assassins of Congress. 

Notwithstanding the severe means of coercion employed by Ge- 
neral Monagas to keep Congress together, some facts revealed to 
him the insufficiency of his power to accomplish that object. From 
the l^th of February to the fSth of March it was not possible to 
assemble the House of Representatives. When did Venezuela 
witness so great an interruption in the labors of her Legislature? 
Does not this occurrence confirm all that has been written respect- 
ing the violent means employed to assemble Congress after the 24th 
of January? These facts speak for themselves — they need no 
comment. 

"The sword," says Segur, "is a bad sceptre ; sooner or later it 
wounds the prince who rests upon it." Gen. Monagas is involved 
in the horrors of a crime to which he was drawn by his perfidy, 
by his ancient hatred against the institutions of Venezuela. In 
the moments of surprise, he has succeeded in deceiving the peo- 
ple with false promises respecting liberty. Whenever the fulfil- 
ment of these promises shall be demanded, then wi]l he border on 
despair. The people desire liberal institutions ; General Monagas 
has an idol, to which he sacrifices everything — military power; but 
military power and a republican government are incompatible. 
"Every military government," says Segur likewise, "unites in it- 



19 



self all the vices of despotism, and all the dangers of anarchy " — a 
principle of eternal truth, but one unknown to General Monagas. 
In 1846, he was, for a few days, at the head of a division; he did 
not fight a single battle ; yet he pretended, without the knov^ledge 
of the General-in-Chief, that government should obtain from Con- 
gress the promotion of a multitude of officers. 

How will General Monagas satisfy the people and the tumultu- 
ous army he has formed ? How will he maintain that army with 
the scanty resources of the nation 1 How will he graufv so many 
pretensions opposed to the interests of the country 1 Getjeral Mo- 
nagas might solve all these doubts by firmly establishing a despotic 
government. This is his aim ; and he has begun by arousing a 
martial spirit, by diverting men from their former habits, and giving 
them new ones. He reckons upon the fatigue which the people 
must at last experience from the agitation in which they are kept, 
and he thinks of improving that moment to spring at once from a 
noisy liberty into a systematized tyranny. Will General Mona- 
gas have the courage and the means necessary to accomplish this 
undertaking] The day is fast approaching when the delusion will 
vanish. 

My countrymen will soon hear Colombia spoken of; they will 
hear of her past glories, and the necessity of reviving them. This 
is the day-dream of General Monagas, and of the other leaders 
who rushed into the rebellion of 1835. Let the history of that 
period be consulted, and it will disclose the opinions of General 
Monagas, and the steps he took in favor of the re-organization of 
Colombia. A peaceful and laborious people, who have relished 
so much the fruits of peace, are sought to be transformed into a 
nation of soldiers, the more easily to accomplish the change. 
Everything is directed towards that object ; the nation feels and 
sees it; and the masses are allowed no time to reflect upon it. The 
state of prostration into which the republic has fallen greatly as- 
sists the plan. The national credit has disappeared, both at home 
and abroad, and the failure to fulfil our sacred engagements in this 
respect, will occasion days of sorrow to Venezuela. The forced 
loans, which have been exacted, have considerably reduced the 
means of capitalists ; agriculture is depressed ; commerce has fled 
terrified from our cities; the mechanic finds no occupation, and 
the laborer must become a soldier — a lamentable and unnatural 
situation, agg^ravated by that species of paper money contained in 
the so-called Law of Bonds. Society must struggle to rescue her- 



self from this extraordinary position. In the midst of this chaos, 
the reformers of 1835, and of the 24th of January last, will cry out, 
"Colombia!" — but I cherish the liope that Venezuela will defend 
her nationality and the principles of just and rational liberty; that 
the prophecies of those who aspire to establish the dominion of 
the sword over intelligence and disinterested patriotism shall not 
be fulfilled ; that Heaven will not permit those to triumph who, 
since 1830, have doomed to death the advocates of the separation 
of Venezuela. 

If I had not a great respect for public opinion, I would be total- 
ly indifferent to the charge preferred by certain papers of New 
Granada, and one of Venezuela, when they wish to ascribe to me 
a part in the project of reviving Colombia under a monarchical 
form. I concerned in such a plan ! I, the most known among the 
friends of the separation of Venezuela, long before that measure 
was sanctioned ! This is an opinion adopted by me from the time 
of the organization of Colombia, and every day confirms me in that 
opinion. If a display of the united forces of an immense territory 
did contribute to the triumph of independence, experience showed 
soon after that the union was opposed to the development, the 
social progress and perfection of the thi ee States. New Granada 
and Equador have only in common with Venezuela the efforts 
made by the three sections to gain their independence from Spain. 
In others respects, each State has a character, occupation and 
habits, very peculiar to itself The plan proposed might satisfy 
the ambition of some persons, and gratify an insane pride ; but it 
never can contribute to the happiness of those nations whose con- 
solidation is sought. I here enter my most solemn protest against 
this mad plan ; if ever my country shall adopt it, be it known from 
this moment, that my wishes have had no part in it. 

The enemies of liberty in Colombia, and in Venezuela, have lat- 
terly imputed to me their own political aberrations. I have kept 
silence through moderation and love of my country ; but the 
interests of that country and my own personal reputation, require 
that I should no longer remain silent. It is a fact wJdch admits of 
no contradiction, that in 1829, a change of the form of government in 
Colombia, from republican into monarchical, was seriously entertained. 
The public press then revealed that plan in which many members of 
the government and other distinguished personages of that day were 
concerned. I was invited ^ formally urged, to concur in the project ; but 
I rejected it with all my strength. 1 have sufficient motives for heliev- 



21 



ing that my opposition was decisive in causing the project to he with- 
drawn, because the persons who wrote to me in favor of it made its success 
depend upon the disposition ivMch Venezuela might manifest. 'Before 
this, the 'Bolivian constitution had heen recommended to me, and Hike- 
wise declared my opinion in terms of strong opposition to it, I have im- 
portant docuynents relative to my conduct in those hazardous times, hut 
1 have them not at present at my disposal ; I shall soon have them in 
my possession, and shall publish them. In the mean time, it behooves 
those loho assail my reputation to publish the documentary proofs of the 
facts on which they rely. I baldly contradict my enemies, with that 
perfect confidence which is inspired by a sound conscience ; by a 
conduct which was never equivocal. Without further explanations 
on this subject I might give it up, and continue, as I am, tranquil 
in my position. It is proper, notwithstanding, for the honor of 
Venezuela, and of those who have faithfully served her, that I should 
add a few remarks. 

In 1829 I was Superior Chief in Venezuela, with extraordinary 
powers, and I had under my orders an array of brave soldiers. If 
I had had any sympathy for, or taken any part in, the project of 
a monarchy, would I have assisted, as I did decidedly assist, in the 
separation of Venezuela? Would I have shortly afterwards sum- 
moned a Convention which was to confirm the public declarations 
of the people ] Would I have thrown myself into the midst of the 
military, in order to obtain a docile submission to the sovereign will 
of the nation from these my companions in arms, who were indig- 
nant at the decree of Congress abolishing their privileges % Would 
I, in fine, have given the order for carrying into execution a Con- 
stitution acknowledged as the most liberal one in the American 
republics'? These acts, quite prominent in my political life, shield 
me against defamation. Public men must endure calumny with 
composure; I think I have been well tried in this respect. 1 have 
always observed a moderate and prudent conduct when I was 
pertinaciously slandered by the press ; by this means I succeeded, 
at one period, in confounding my calumniators. 

If in times when Colombia was governed by a dictatorial power, 
and when a leader of great name and influence presided, I com- 
bated the project of a monarchy, how can I entertain it at present, 
when Colombia is dissolved, and after Venezuela has enjoyed, 
through my efforts and my fidelity, the advantages of a liberal 
system of government 1 Would I, in the last period of my life, 
give the lie to the character which I have maintained during more 



22 



than two-thirds of that life ? Do not all my acts, up to the present 
time, show that I have labored for the welfare of the people, and 
that I am incapable of being a traitor to them 1 What is shown 
by the extensive private correspondence which I have maintained 
in the provinces of Venezuela? I authorize all persons to publish 
the letters which they may have received from me on political 
matters. I include in this authority General Monagas, whose cor- 
respondence with me must be known by the public. A citizen 
who acts with such frankness has a right to be heard, even by his 
opponents. But I strive in vain. The very persons who endeavor 
to wound ray feelings are quite sensible of their own injustice. 

The hand of Providence has guided me in such a manner that 
my acts constitute an impenetrable barrier against malevolence. 
What can be adduced against these constant acts of my life 1 Is 
it the trick, more stupid than wicked, contained in the official note 
signed by General Munoz relative to the encounter of the 10th of 
March ? I permit four hundred men to pjoclaim me king in a 
desert ! And this foolish trick is adopted by an ancient magistrate, 
who seals his public career by taking the place of General Mona- 
gas in the bloody chair of State ! Gen. Munoz should never have 
yielded to an impulse which sinks him to the level of degraded 
souls. He had no necessity to employ so base an artifice in order 
to maintain himself in the post which he selected. Besides, Gen. 
Munoz knows me well. For many years, and in different situa- 
tions of my life, he has tried my character and penetrated my 
most inward sentiments. Fortune has placed us now in opposite 
ranks ; but it is in war that a gentleman can best display his 
chivalry. There are attentions which confer more honor on him 
who bestows than on him who receives them. If my letter to 
General Monagas, and my address of the 4th of February, be not 
sufficient to protect me from the snares laid for me by the enemies 
of my country, they have in their possession other documents of 
which they can make use. On the 10th of March, my papers fell 
into the hands of General Munoz. If he would publish them, 
without alteration, they would make out the most complete de- 
fence of my conduct. 

The contents of the official note signed by General Munoz is 
in open contradiction with the object which that chief proposes to 
himself. In order to exaggerate his victory, he states the number 
of his forces as five hundred, and raises mine to eight hundred, 
when he knows, from my correspondence, from the statements 



23 



made out by the commanders of the corps, and when the fact is 
well established in Apure, that what is called my army did not on 
the 10th of March exceed the number of four hundred and twenty 
men. General Munoz says, "that the engagement was as horrible 
as any he ever witnessed in the war of independence * * * 
that he had been left alone on the field of battle * * * 
that his foot forces were surrounded by mine ; and that this was a 
most trying moment # * # * ^^^^ accompanied 
only by his aid-de-camp Marquez he advanced against my forces, 
and succeeded in cutting his way through them # # * 
that by two o'clock in the afternoon he had only been able to col- 
lect together two hundred men. * * *" Do not these 
admissions of General Munoz prove that he was beaten on the 
10th of March, and that, through one of those accidents not unfre- 
quent in war, he remained in Apure and I was obliged to leave it? 

In truth. General Munoz was completely defeated, but we could 
not gather the fruits of the victory. We were prevented from ob- 
taining them, through the weakness of one of the commanders of 
ray cavalry who occupied my left wing. He faced about at the 
first firing ; his men entangled those of the next corps, who in turn 
threw into disorder the corps stationed immediately after them, and 
the clouds of dust raised by the running of the horses completed 
the confusion. I made every affort to prevent it, but to no purpose; 
I wanted officers to assist me : I had not even an officer of Staff 
on that day. Whilst I was struggling to collect my men, the brave 
Colonel Castejon, who had penetrated on my right with sixty men 
of my guard into the heart of the enemy's forces, routed them 
completely, cutting them up in a frightful manner. It is true that 
upwards of two hundred were killed ; but they belonged to the 
forces of General Munoz. Let him prove what he has falsely as- 
serted. Nearly all the men whom I had under my command on 
that day are now in Apure and Calabozo : I am sure that I did 
not lose more than twenty men. Let General Munoz state and 
prove where the three hundred soldiers are, who he says were dis- 
persed from his army; the widows and orphans, and the twenty 
piisoners I took from him will answer him. General Munoz him- 
self admitted his defeat in an official communication addressed by 
him to Farfan, where he says, that although he had gained a vic- 
tory, he had lost nearly all his men, and he wanted assistance from 
him." Col. Castejon occupied the battle ground for upwards of 
three hours, and the enemy who had escaped from our hands did 



24 



not even think of molesting him. He then determined to join me; 
but unfortunately we took different directions, and we did not 
meet. 

Such is the truth of what occurred on the 10th of March. The 
exaggerations of General Munoz, the falsehoods he has asserted 
under his signature, and the injurious language he uses in all his 
despatches have no power to change facts. I leave him for the 
present, vain with his triumph. I shall pursue my course, fully 
persuaded that the people of Venezuela will not allow themselves 
to be ruled by crime and depravity. 

A pamphlet entitled " Essay upon the Social Condition of the 
States of Colombia" has been very lately published at Bogota. 
It is written by the learned Doctor Florentino Gonzales, who was 
very recently Secretary of the Treasury. The distinguished au- 
thor fully approves the declaration of Venezuela against the abo- 
minable acts of General Monagas, and expresses his detestation of 
the bloody scene in the following terms : 

" From the moment that the leaders of that majority slew the 
Representatives of the people because they exercised a power con- 
ferred on them by the Constitution, which those leaders pretend to 
defend, they have put themselves in the wrong, and they can only 
rely on physical force. The crime of the 24th of February de- 
stroyed the claims of those who style themselves democrats, and 
conferred on the minority the right to defend themselves and to 
establish institutions that may secure to all the citizens of the na- 
tion the right to the enjoyment of the social privileges. Right is 
on the side of those who have refused to acknowledge the acts of 
a Congress decimated by assassination, and who deliberate under 
the daggers of the minions of power, Sound principles do not 
recognise this species of legislation — they do not admit tyranny 
veiled with the outer form of liberty. Such a legislature, then, 
cannot command obedience through the faction headed by the 
government, and the insurrection of those who have refused to 
acknowledge such a government is legitimate. * * # 

'* Let the champion who has undertaken to redress the outrage 
perpetrated against the national representation by the crime of 
the 24th of January remain faithful to the principles of right, and 
the triumph, though it may come late, is sure." 

I shall remain faithful — yes, ever faithful — to the principles 
which constitute the glorious device of South America. 

Let the assassins of Congress delight to tear my reputation ; it 
is not a fragile reed which yields to every passing wind ; it is the 
result of a whole life consecrated to my country. Has she not a 
hundred times proclaimed me her saviour ? Have I not defended 



25 



her with my sword in all her conflicts ? Can General Jose T. 
Monagas, and the other chiefs who have rebelled against society, 
say as much 1 General Monagas, the bitter enemy of the institu- 
tions of Venezuela, leader of the conspirators of 1831 and 1835, 
is the same person who, as President of the republic, directed the 
assassination of the Representatives of the people ; and the chiefs 
who surround him, his famous captains, are the authors of the 
scandals of Colombia — blind partisans of the Bolivian constitu- 
tion — monarchists of yesterday, and to-day, liberals. 

The present situation of Venezuela is truly anarchical. How 
can the assassins of Congress extenuate the outbreak of the 18th 
of April — an imitation of the 24th of January, though not attended 
with all its horrors '? What is improperly called the people in 
Caracas, instigated by two or three seditious individuals by profes- 
sion, placed a second time in imminent peril the lives of the mem- 
bers of Congress, who, to save themselves, were compelled to 
abandon a project of amnesty, which they had under considera- 
tion and immediately to adjourn. Is there a government where 
a tumultuous assemblage of people commands obedience from the 
very sovereignty of the nation] From the moment that the rulers 
of a nation, for the purpose of maintaining their places, in order 
to consummate the ruin of their country, permit a fraction of the 
people to decide upon the greatest interests of the nation, the mo- 
ment such rulers declare themselves incapable of restraining the 
excesses of an unbridled faction, the conclusion is a necessary one, 
that such a body politic is ruled by chance — by the caprice of a 
few madmen, who have usurped the place of the public power; 
and such an anomalous state of things cannot, from its very violence, 
exist. A re-action is fast approaching with irresistible force. 
Whatever efforts the Great Assassin and his accomplices may 
make to arrest it, will avail nothing against the firm resolves of 
patriotism, which this time will successfully employ the arms of 
national good sense and justice, outraged on the ill-fated 24th of 
January. Venezuela, and particularly Caracas, will show their 
gratitude, as soon as they are allowed, for the noble conduct ob- 
served on the 24th of January by the respectable majority of the 
representatives of friendly powers near the Republic. One of these 
honorable gentlemen was compelled to contend, in his own house, 
with the leaders of the assassins, and many persecuted persons 
owed their safety to the firmness of his conduct. May those public 
benefactors and faithful friends of my country accept the acknow- 

4 



26 



ledgment, which I feel myself compelled to tender them here, of 
respect, of regard, of sincere and profound gratitude. 

My present position has imposed on me a duty which I have 
endeavored to discharge in this document. May I, by this means, 
satisfy my fellow citizens, and offer to all the friends of rational 
liberty an undoubted proof of the religious respect which I have for 
it. Public men do not belong to themselves — they belong to the 
nation that has formed and honored them. This conviction has led 
me always to forget myself to follow the fortunes of my country. 
She is now plunged in the most bitter misfortune. The order of 
law which has prevailed in Venezuela has been succeeded by vio- 
lence and oppression ; a change attended by such fatal circum- 
stances that the imminent danger may be predicted of a portion of 
society, who, in the career of independence and of liberty, spared 
no sacrifices. Intelligence, property, personal influence, all contri- 
buted to the cause of emancipation. The magisrate to whom my 
unhappy country entrusted her destinies last year has become her 
cruel enemy. Gen. Jos6 Tadeo Monagas has usurped the exercise 
of an arbitrary power, and to maintain it has excited the worst pas- 
sions of one portion of society against the other, and he has called 
around him individuals the most notorious for their crimes and 
for their participation in the different conspiracies which have agi- 
tated Venezuela. The halls of Congress and the fields of battle 
are still smoking with the blood of most worthy Representatives, 
of other distinguished patriots, and of brave soldiers. A traitor's 
dagger pierced the heart of the distinguished citizen, the Hon. 
Santos Michelena. In him Venezuela has lost the ornament of her 
civilians ; and my companions in arms, the defenders of law, ought 
forever to bear a badge of mourning for the loss of the modest G-en. 
Pinango. He fought bravely, and having been wounded by a bul- 
let fell from his horse ; the blood-thirsty enemy seized upon the 
illustrious victim, and hastened his death by abandoning him to the 
most cruel sufferings. They would not allow compassionate stran- 
gers to discharge a duty respected even among savages. The dead 
body of General Pinango, clothed in the habiliments of a beggar, 
served in Coro to proclaim the barbarities of the sanguinary legions 
of Gen. Monagas. What feelings do these ferocious acts produce 
on true patriots'? What are the duties imposed upon the sound 
part of the citizens of Venezuela, who have escaped the catas- 
trophe 1 What do the widows and the orphans demand of us 1 
What is due to those honest families who are living crowded toge- 



27 



ther in foreign islands 1 What is demanded of us by that imposing 
spectacle of fathers of families, the victims of the most infamous 
spoliation, whose property, seized upon by the army of General 
Monagas, has lately been carried away to the eastern part of Vene- 
zuela ? All require us to sacrifice ourselves to obtain an expiation 
of the crime which has covered the republic with mourning. Let 
an effort be made, and a thunder-bolt will fall upon the heads of 
the assassins. Let us encounter the danger, and the republic will 
efface the ignominious stain imprinted upon her by the impious 
hand of Gen. Monagas. 

Through our efforts, the name of Venezuela will be again inscrib- 
ed on the great book of nations. Let us prove that we love our 
country and that we are Republicans at heart. Let the enormity 
of the crime which has disgraced the republic — the greatness of 
her loss — inspire us. 

Fellow countrymen ! — I am very near to you. Providence pre- 
serves my life to serve you — to aid you in the glorious strugggle 
which is to restore to us the dignity of freemen. In the war of In- 
dependence, as you well know, my life was exposed to a thousand 
dangers, in order to secure a country. You shall now see me con- 
tend against the domestic tyrant with the same zeal — with greater 
enthusiasm. My resolution is taken ; it is irrevocable. I must 
combat, if necessary, for the remainder of my life, in defence of 
the liberties of the republic. Should it not be my fortune to suc- 
ceed — should it be decreed that in this contest I must pay the debt 
I owe to nature — others will continue the work with ardor, and, 
perhaps, with greater risk to the assassins of our country. I shall 
have fulfilled the most sacred of my duties. 

JOS^: A. PAEZ. 

St. Thomas, August 1st, 1848. 



IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS 

IN RELATION TO THE 

PRESENT SITUATION 

OF 

VENEZUELA; 

AA'D THE ATTEMPT OF 

GENERAL JOSE TADEO MONAGAS 

TO ESTABLISH A 

DESPOTIC GOVERNMENT 

IN THAT country: 

WITH A FEW INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, 



NEW-YORK : 
1848. 



